Clamps and other work piece holding implements are widely used and take various forms depending on their application. As illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,437 issued Apr. 9, 1974 to Kees, a clamp or clip 20 is designed to be positioned on a blood vessel. Clip 20 comprises a pair of pivotally connected and generally arc-shaped jaws 39, 41, that are biased in a closed position by a wire spring 49. While the jaws of this blood clamp are conveniently formed to conform generally to blood vessels, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that a clamp of the type disclosed in Kees can be reconfigured for other applications simply by changing the shape of the jaws. In all such cases, however, these structures would necessarily include various components thereby increasing manufacturing costs.
Clamps of simpler construction are, however, also well know in the art. For example, and in connection with a totally different application, a rack clip is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,966 issued on Feb. 13, 1990 to Antos. In that case the clamp is designed to hold work pieces between a pair of suitably configured contacts 22, 24. As in Kees, the clamp includes a coiled portion which is biased in a manner so that the spring tension stored in the clamp forces the pair of contacts together. In Antos, however, the clamp is simply made of spring wire to which a handle of simple construction and a pair of contacts have been soldered. As shown by Antos, clamps of simple construction are known, but they are commonly used in applications where gentle holding of the work piece is not a concern.
Those skilled in the art will most likely already be familiar with other clamps such as "C-shaped" clamps and "bar clamps". In addition to comprising typically several distinct components, those other more commonly used clamps normally require the use both hands first to position the clamp about the work piece, and then, while attempting to maintain the work piece within the clamp, to tighten the clamp as required. As can be readily appreciated, this two-handed operation may, at times, present difficulties and require unusual dexterity.
The foregoing makes apparent that prior art holding devices such as clamps or the like, have various disadvantages. Some of these prior art items include several components which require separate manufacturing steps followed by assembling operations. Others, while generally of simpler construction, cannot typically perform precise and gentle holding operations. Yet others, which may be suitable for use with delicate objects, may be of a construction which makes them more difficult to use. Thus, it is desirable to provide a clamp or the like having improved characteristics and versatility to attempt to alleviate the problems associated with conventional prior art items, but which is nonetheless engineered to facilitate its fabrication, at the same time improving, or at least maintaining, its reliability and relatively low cost.